Kitchen blenders have a motor base to which a vessel containing a combination of food items and liquid is mounted on top of the motor base. Such blenders are defined by the orientation of the vessel when attached to the motor base. Therefore, it is important to properly define the top and bottom of such vessels. The top of such vessels are defined as the end of the vessel at which the blended food and/or liquid enters the vessel for blending. The bottom of the vessel is the end of the vessel opposite the top of the vessel. The functionality of the top and bottom of the vessel is different, depending upon the type of kitchen blender involved.
In traditional kitchen blenders, a blade holder, in which a rotary blade is centrally integrated, is secured to the bottom of the vessel and a cap seals the top of the vessel to prevent the contents from splashing out of the vessel during blending. The blade of the vessel has a shaft that is capable of engaging the shaft of the motor contained in the motor base in a manner to permit activation of the blade.
Vacuum blenders are a subcategory of kitchen blenders, which remove the ambient air from the mixing vessel of the blender. The removal of the ambient air is desired because the air oxidizes nutritionally valuable antioxidant vitamins and nutrients when these bioactive ingredients are released during blending from the protective cell walls in which they are located. The health benefits of using the blender to release antioxidants will be increased if the nutritional value of such antioxidants can be preserved by removing the air from the vessel.
Other benefits of vacuum blenders include the removal of bubbles and foaming from the drink. When blended, the air is mixed into the drink. The gases added to the drink can cause discomfort to the consumer. The gases also make it more difficult to mix in protein powder to drinks. Foaming occurs when certain powder supplements are added to the mix, which has been known to cause additional strain on the motor, which can shorten the life of the blender. Vacuum blenders have also been shown to chop the ingredients into a finer consistency, which is a goal of making a nutritious smoothie.
Vacuum blenders typically have a valve in the top of the cap at the top of the vessel, which is secured to a passage, such as a hose, that is connected to a separate suction pump, which permits the removal of the air in the vessel. These types of vacuum blenders require costly structural additions to the blender to achieve these results, such as the addition of a vacuum pump. Generally, more material resources make them more costly to manufacture. Many vacuum blenders increase the footprint of the blender to accommodate the additional apparatus required to evacuate the vessel. The additional bulkiness requires larger packaging and increases the weight, thereby limiting the number that can be shipped and stored within a defined space. Heavier and bulkier items are generally more costly to ship. Many such vacuum blenders require more counter space, which is a disadvantage for many consumers. A typical vacuum blender having a separate vacuum pump can be found in United States Publication No. 2004-0173105 A1.
The configuration of a traditional vacuum blender described above does not work for a certain subset of blenders called nutrient extractors, or sometimes called single serve blenders. In such blenders, the vessel configuration is inverted. The top of the vessel does not have a cap. Instead, a blade holder is attached to the top of the vessel. The bottom of the vessel is completed closed and is fully integrated into the sides of the vessel. The food contents are placed inside the vessel, then the blade holder is attached to the top of the vessel thereby sealing the food contents inside for blending. The vessel and blade holder are inverted resulting in the top becoming the bottom so that the blade holder can be placed on to the motor base to permit activation of the blade. There is no cap in such a configuration to which a vacuum connection can be made. Since the bottom of such a nutrient extractor vessel is continuous with the walls of the vessel, a valve for a vacuuming tube cannot be incorporated into the bottom without compromising the integrity of the bottom of the vessel, which could result in leakage through the valve or leakage about the seal around the valve when the vessel is re-inverted after blending.
For kitchen blenders having the inverted configuration of a nutrient extractor, it is difficult to add the vacuum function. The problem arises with evacuating the air from nutrient extractors because the air in the vessel is located above the water line in the enclosed bottom of the vessel, which is the top of the vessel when the vessel is inverted for blending. It is comparable to an air pocket in a capsized ship. The present invention is able to evacuate the air from this sealed space without drilling a hole through the bottom to attach a vacuum pump. The present invention also avoids any substantial increase in the footprint of the blender, incorporating all inventive features within the existing spaces within the nutrient extraction blender, and taking advantage of the existing motor in such blenders to create the suction needed to evacuate the vessel.
Vacuum blenders with the opening for accessing the contents of the vessel on top can also benefit from the present invention. Such conventional vacuum blenders still have a separate vacuum pump separate from the motor that drives the blade. The vacuum pump is sometimes located within the motor base housing such as in Korean Patent No. 10-1441093. In other vacuum blenders, the vacuum pump is located separately from the motor base housing. But in either case, a separate motor drive is required to for evacuation of the vessel and blending with the blade. The present invention eliminates the need for a separate vacuum pump in a vacuum blender.